new.beginning

Watcha think of my blog's new look? ;)

Nice eh?

Yup, it is Michael Heilemann's famous WordPress template.

Yaay.

taking.a.break.soon

I had my UK visa done yesterday. Ditched 2 hours of work to get it.

Today I had to visit the American Embassy to have that one done. Ditched 3 hours of work this time.

As nonnah and I approached the heavily survaillanced block, the security woman skimmed through our visa applications. First thing she noticed is the wrong size of the picture.

Damn. I even crossed my fingers for good luck, but I guess it's the start of a jinx.

We hurried back to the car that was parked 3 blocks away and skidded through the nearest photo shop. We found one and asked the Indian photographer to hurry up and take our "mug shots". A couple of people seen in the embassy were already there taking a photo for they had the wrong size too. Oopsi. The Indian definitely was familiar with this. He striked his deal right there. 20 bucks for four 2"x2" amateur shots.

I looked so ugly in them.

While waiting for my interview a Khaleeji family entered the room. Cool Dad was hilarious.

He accidently tripped while stepping towards the "interrogation" window.

"What's your occupation"?

"A businessman living here".

"Cham 3yal 3indak"? Visa Woman switched to Arabic.

"Shoofi jibt il bizraan kolohom. O hathi hiya il Madame 6ab3an mo wa7da mn il 3iyal". lol.

"You have the wrong size photo Sir. I suggest itroo7 il complex thee. 3indihom ma7al 7ag il tasweer." Oopsi. That woman loves speaking Arabish.

"Eewa 3eraftoh".

The family had to visit the Indian photographer just like we did. I wonder how their mug shots would look like.

My jinx broke away when I heard my visa would take 24 hours to get processed. I'll be picking it up at the next "public day". Whatever that means?!

If you're still curious, I'm getting away for a couple of weeks. Everyone needs a breath of fresh air once in a while. I'll be getting my dose by the end of March. Getting stuck in one place suffocates me.

So nonnah and I opened this subject to Mom and Dad. We chose very wise selective words to get our idea function positively in their heads. Yes we planned but I was comfortable enough to hear their feedback. They were understandable and agreed that we seriously needed some "travelling" break.

I love my white haired dad and my nearly menopausal mom very much ... so dearly (blush blush). They obligingly would do so much for us. Truthfully, I don't realize how unthankful I would be. Don't really know if it's my naïvete or taking things for granted without any realization.

I am so touched now. My mood(s) is (are) flying all over.

Can't wait to fly back to the States. I miss it. 10 days will do; visit our college town, meet our friends in D.C. for old time's sake, finishing it off in NYC. We'll then have a nice Londonian week with a dear friend.

I need this breather very badly.

Copyright © 2005 Dario Marianelli, Dawn, from the album: Pride & Prejudice OST
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weekenddoodaloo

Nice weekend I had. It ended very well. I've been the "country's greatest sis" just 'cause I took my 9 year old sister to choose a birthday present for herself. She's so cute, she chose a Bratz dance-learning game to practice her dancing "skills", a baton used for a marching band, and something else suitable for 9 year old girls. Definitely not suitable for us. I took her for dinner later on that evening. That was an accomplishment.

The weekend started off with somewhat a continuation of nonnah's driving abilities previously mentioned. This time, she brought a cop on a motorbike while picking me up from a very long day at work. She only gets to drive once every two weeks and look what happened? This girl makes me laugh with her way of handling things.

Nonnah if you see this, remember that I love you, that you're my twin, that you're my kindred spirit. Umwaaah??

So she was followed by a cop. I didn't realize it when I sat on the passanger's seat, until I asked what's going on, why don't you press on that pedal and drive on. I was starving for a great lunch at auntie's that day.

"Hold on, he's writing me a ticket, 'cause presumably I passed a red light. While I did NOT such thing! It was yellow! I run passed a yellow light. Is that a crime?! Plus the car behind me followed. So I guess he got to pass it not me!"

What? Who? When? How? Why?!

She was hysterically pissed off.

She had gone cuckoo in that couple of minutes.

I did believe her. I swear that cop had a filthy smirk on his face. UHH! I wanted to choke him.

He was galloping towards our car to hand the ticket to nonnah. Nonnah asked him in a whining way, "The guy behind me didn't stop on the red signal. Why didn't you stop him"?

"I did, before I pulled you over".

"Oh. Ok." Those two words had politely exited from nonnah's mouth.

Do I smell sexism?!

Such a frigging LIAR. Nonnah told me that he pursued her straight away, and it took him how much? 10 minutes to write that frigging ticket?

F#^*!ng @$$!*&% SOB

I was the one who was pissed off right there. We both were. We were all a pissed off happy family watching an unfair cop pulling away. That smirk on his face did it! I will never forget it.

I was the girl who always thought that the world was sweet. Everyone was nice, helpful, and deserve a second chance. Usually a smack on the face will do -- will wake me up and smell reality.

Thank God for a wasta (I pretty much oppose it), nonnah won't go to a court's hearing. I heard it's a pig's muddy barn out there.

all.that.jazz

I guess Mahmood beat me to it.

A month of culture festival. Sounds exciting!

If you're in Bahrain or willing to visit during the month of March (F1 Fever), please get a chance to watch some wonderful shows.

Sunday 12th March 2006 at 8:30PM I'll be occupying one of the seats in Arad Fort enjoying the Pitt Jazz All-Stars performance. All that jazz baby! One of my all time favorite jazz/blues singer is Billie Holiday. Uh! That woman could sing .. sorrowfully!

I also grew attached to Hanine's style of songs. Old Arabic music sang with cuban/latin tunes. It's soothing. Might be occupying a seat for her show too!

12th March is going to be one heck of a day! I'm starting it with the Formula 1 race (Go Raikkonen) and I'm presuming I'd see a familiar crowd out there; ending it with a wonderful evening listening to some jazz. Better go buy me a McLaren shirt as an act of support.

Please do check out the shows. The tickets range from BD20 ($55.4), BD15 ($41.6), and BD7 ($19.4). It's a bargain don't you think?!

I leave you now with Diana Krall, Cry Me a River (originally sang by Barbara Streisand).

Enjoy!


© 2001 Diana Krall, Cry Me a River, from the album: The Look of Love. Powered by Castpost

what.a.small.world

I finally met the girl who may be my competitor in the Strategic Department. We both graduated from the same high school, we both were athletic back then, our moms even gave birth to us in the same month/year.

Our horopscope says:

Aquarius girls tend to be "Friendly, humanitarian, inventive, independent, and intellectual. On the other hand, they're unemotional and detached". Hmm. I'll stick to the former part, thank you very much. After all we're the water carriers. ;c)

We're the youngest engineers in that department and we both love what we're doing. I've been working here for the past 9 months. She's been working here for the past 3 weeks. I might have a head start here. However, she does have Masters in Project Management, while I only have a B Sc in Civil Engineering. I met her in the elevator today and she recognized me. Really sweet girl.

"Ah we finally meet! They've been telling me about you! N.A. this and N.A. that. I said I better meet that girl and see how she is", she said.

"Hehehe, they told me about you too! And I thought I knew your face. I've been busy getting ready for the next training location, but I usually visit the 7th floor once in a while to have a chitchat with Rod (my boss), but I never bumped into you.", I happily said ending it with "I hope we meet soon!" when it was time to get off the elevator.

Mashallaa, she looks exactly like her cousin who everybody had a crush on back in high school. Let's call him Mr. He's Got it All. Even nonnah had a crush on him when we were in elementary. Who didn't? LOL. She revealed her secret couple of months back when we were bringing back our secretive puppy love alive from our dusty mind.

I was amazed by Mr. He Got It All's athletic ability but I didn't have a crush on him. In fact, I was in love with a cute little boy who had auburn straight hair and pinky cheeks. I was 11 years old. I imagined moi being the Barbie in this relationship, and him being the Ken. C'mon, we all had innocent wild imaginations and mine was this. We would have been really CUTE! Unfortunately it did not work out.

I hated that Ken when he hit puberty. He acted like he's ALL that. Pffft he was a dumb ass.

Getting back to Mr. He Got It All, I definitely remember him clearly, more so from KGs all the way through Middle School. We used to be in the same classes.

During Phys. Ed. two captains were hand picked by the teacher. When I was one, I picked him 'cause we both had the sportsmanship and we so wanted to kick ass (nothing more). Fearing of gossips in the air and hearing "Naa nana nanaaa naa N.A. has a crush on someone" from my fellow class, I tried choosing a couple of good kids before him. Ugh! We were such guiltless kids! I miss those old days. You can be whatever you want to be; mischievous, angelic, smarty pants..everything and nobody could utter a word except for bullies, and I don't think we had those in our grade. Hmm. I don't remember.

I think nonnah liked him ever since she knew he was related to the great man who said:

يؤنسني مصباحكِ البعيدْ
يومِض خلف لعنة الظلامِ
كابتسامة الرجاء
أحس أن الليل بات
.. جدولاً من السنى
وأننا في زورقٍ مُجَنَّحٍ
..أنا وأنت وحدنا
نطوف ُ مابين النجومْ
ونستريح في القمرْ

I'll ask Genie to take me back in time. That will be my first wish out of the three. I shoulda gotten that magic lamp and rubba dub dub rub it.

uhh.what's.up.doc?

I was watching an episode of Grey's Anatomy a while ago. Btw, did I ever mention how much I'm in love with that show (after ER that is)! Everyone in that hospital got laid. It's funny. It's a zoo in there. Woohoo! I think it smells like one too. Interns, residents, and attendents running around like untamed animals. I discovered the show after watching the Golden Globe Awards, and here came Sandra Oh carrying her "goldy man" that she won as a supporting actress. Sandra Oh acting in a series with her comedic act? I gotta see that (I SOO loved her in Under the Tuscan Sun)! Plus I get so appealled to doctors show probably 'cause they have guts and deal with them too.

Anyways, I got tuned in one of the first episodes of Grey's Zootomy (oops Anatomy) and an attendent was operating on an old lady's chest. Suprisingly enough, while in the OP, he pulled off a towel from her lungs that was left 5 years ago by another attendent (it turned out to be him). So yeah, a towel was pulled off from a patient's lungs.

That's pure carelessness to me.

Two weeks ago a steriled bandage was pulled off from my grandma's intestine. Once it was removed, the surgeon guessed it was about 7 to 10 years old. Layers of cells and bateria were growing on it. It's absurd really. This time was a cloth, but next time it'll be a forgotten tongs or a knife. Heck or even a stethoscope!

He got away with it. How could that happen? I blame it on the poor hospital managment here. I don't think we have an assessment of doctor's competence. It seems he lacked liability and forgot that he had a human life under his hands. I still can't believe he forgot a roll of bandage in my granny's stomache. If that had occurred in the States, a huge settlement will be knocking on the patient's door.

PS. Don't get me wrong, I'm very fond of docs, but there are good cops as there are bad cops if you know what I mean.

PPS. Seriously, go watch that show. It's "like" kewl.

if.dubai.can.do.it.kuwait.can.do.it.too!

"If a builder builds a house for a man and does not make its construction firm and the house collapses and causes the death of the owner of the house – that builder shall be put to death. If it destroys property, he shall restore whatever it destroyed, and because he did not make the house firm he shall rebuild the house which collapsed at his own expense. If a builder builds a house for a man and does not make its construction meet the requirement and a wall falls – that builder shall strengthen the wall at his own expense."

-The Code of Hammurabi, 2250 B.C.

I want to see this code applied on the 1 km (plus a meter) skyscraper. Who seconds me on that?

Architects don't even give a rat's ass about the difficulty that will be encountered on behalf the structural engineers for getting this huge infrastrucuture up and working.

Piling foundation would bare a lot of stress I'd say.

But as my dear Napoléon exclaimed, "Impossible n'est pas français!"

Way to go Kuwait.

zip-a-dee-doo-dah.zip-a-dee-ay

Unbelievable!

I have a sister who sucks at driving.

She called me with a frantic voice , "Come back up the car for me! There's an accident infront of me near your Ministry and I don't know what to do! Yalla Come!"

Sure bossy nonnah I said to myself! "Right away!" I told her.

I always drop her off to work first since we share a car. No big deal. Her work is one traffic away.

It was raining a half hour ago and people here think they were driving on eggshells. So we were late. Fearing I would not find a parking spot and that would lead me to park on the other side of a 2-way road and walk across it, and I hate to walk across infront of all the cars (call me a scardy cat), I decided to drop myself off first and let nonnah take the car to her work.


Okayyy.. So the next thing I hear after turning on my office lights, is nonnah's don't-know-what-to-do voice. So I rush downstairs taking the fabulous and luxurious 10'by10' cubicle and run towards the street. What do I see? Cars stuck behind our car wanting to turn left, but nonnah blocked the turn. Poor folks. LOL.

I hopped in the driver's seat and took control.

Out of all this I forgot my cell phone in the car. I even waved at her like an idiot.

I was the idiot but she was the girl who didn't know how to reverse a car! Heeh!

i.can't.sleep

It's 4:07 in the morning and I can't sleep. It happens to me once in a while -- being insomniac. I think I worry too much. Well yes. I worry a lot lately. About what? I don't know. Maybe I'm worried about Granny who's abroad for an operation (nothing serious). Or about my brother who is doing his pilgrimage. Or maybe about nonnah who is sleep talking on the phone as I speak (type). Or about my 16 year old sis who's slumber partying in one of her friends house. How come I never slumber partied when I was at that age? Oh yeah. I remember. Mom and Dad didn't let us. I'm all jealous now. Girls nowadays get what they want in a jiffy. I guess we weren't complaining enough. Oh well. Maybe I'm just feeling lonely now and have no one to talk to, so I'm sabotaging my cute little blog with my raves. I just don't know anything anymore. Today I heard some say "I never knew what I wanted in life. But ever since I gave birth to my baby girl my life is all focused and centered". Isn't that sweet? I think I need to get a kid. Of my own. And that means me getting married first. And that means me being committed. Commitment and I don't get along. I wasn't committed to my bonsai tree. And now its dead. I wasn't committed to my tomato plant. And look what happened? Dad gets to take over the job. I know I would sound stupid tomorrow when I reread this post. Life... what do you know. it works with you at times and it works against you when you need it the most.

I had Tylenol cold night pills and it's not working its magic. U think I should sue? lol. Ohh I'm all sweaty right now. Hottt.

End of the show.

;)

quarter.of.a.century.(happy.bday.2.me)

It's that time of year.
Gonna be 25 tomorrow. Gulp.
Twin sis and I were planning on doing something wild--out of the ordinare. We're not of planners I'd say, 'cause we still haven't thought of something naughtyyyyy. lol.

No chickening out. We need ideas. Quick! Any suggestions you guys??!

Oh, btw, did I mention that I'm single? And my wish on my 25th birthday is: to try something new! So congratulate me; I am beginning to accept the idea of saying buhbyee to spinsterhood! Is that even a word? 'Cause I'm afraid the train will depart any time soon and I don't want to miss it! I need to go find me a suitor. LOL. I hope it's not all talk.

BUT I need to go wild beforehand.

Soooo, fill my blog with suggestions plz!

YUMMY.

This goes to Sarah F.: Sweety! Are you still up for the blind date thingy? HAHAHAHAHA.

[Update: Ok. What's going on? Whenever I publish this post it disappears from my blog. Anybody knows why?]